Phyrric Return
by Wernnon
Summary: A desperate last gamble turns into a journey home. But will it be Pyrrha who returns home to her friends or something else entirely? Watch from sidelines as she tries her best to stay intact with trials all around her, visiting worlds where the line between black and white is not as clear as it was on Remnant, and will her return be a boon or a curse upon the world.
1. Last Gambit

_**A/N: This is the new story that I wrote. For those that are waiting for the first one all i got to say that you are out of luck. That story was prompted by one of my friends and once I got into it, I realized how utterly screwed I was. Gamer fics are one of the more enjoyable fics for me to read and so I thought it would be pretty fun to write it myself instead I realized as writing of it continued that it was really hard, at least before the gamer system becomes obsolete with random numbers that don't really change the story all that much. I lost passion for it and writing became a chore. to add to that ****conundrum I am also a very lazy person and without sufficient motivation it will take a lot to push me through writing.**_

**So here is a warning for all readers. If you want a scheduled update this is not for you. If you need to have a superbly written work then this is not for you, I am not a great writer yet. Pyrrhic Return will have irregular chapters and this probably won't change for a good while.**

**What I can promise you is that this story will slowly move forward, no matter no slow, and that I will try my best to change the selfless Pyrrha into something foreign so slowly that it will hopefully be a good transition.**

_"Semblance" is a term used to describe the projection of Aura into a more tangible form. For some this could be the ability to control objects with telekinesis. For others it could mean superhuman strength. The power associated with a wielder's Semblance is completely unique.__With enough training and focus, a user's Aura can turn them into something much more than just a man.__ \- excerpt from an Unknown source._

Everything was falling apart and nothing she had tried to do worked. Pyrrha was certain that there was something she must have missed, something that would have turned this situation around but for the life of her, she couldn't find anything to leverage against the current situation.

She wondered how had things degraded to such a degree. Looking back on her life since coming to Beacon, Pyrrha could easily see the hidden links that connected to one another and slowly forced this situation forward.

Team RWBY's disastrous first mission to Mount Glenn.

The dust robberies all around the Vale.

Increased presence of White Fang.

The criminal that snuck into the CCT.

Even the increased security thanks to Atlas.

It seemed as if every single accident that had occurred in Vale slowly built up to this singular point. Indeed as she stared at the glowing amber eyes that looked down upon her kneeling form, Pyrrha, now with additional information and seeing the past events in new light, could see the woman's hand prints all over this fiasco. Not that it mattered for much longer.

At least not for her, she could uncomfortably feel the ashen arrow that was lodged into her spine, her body not feeling the otherwise mind numbing pain that it should have felt most likely due to her spine being severed. Indeed she could not even feel the exhaustion that permeated her body throughout the fight.

Looking at Cinder Fall, if that was indeed her real name, the strongest and most challenging opponent she had yet to face in battle, the Mistralian champion had to say that she was strong, without any doubt. No matter how Pyrrha felt about her choices and ways that she used her power, she bested even headmaster Ozpin, someone that Pyrrha was certain ranked at the top of huntsmen and huntresses around the world no matter how much they disliked him personally.

She could see out of corner of her eyes Ruby, the leader of team RWBY, entering the top floor of the tower but she was too focused on herself to truly care, about her or even the destruction their fight had wrought upon the tower nor the landscape of Vale burning and teeming with Grimm. Pyrrha failed. Failed spectacularly so indeed. She had always thought herself to be destined to be a huntress, helping people of remnant against the Grimm. Every step of the way seemed to not only reinforce that idea but also remind her of the need to help other, less fortunate, people.

Ever since she realized her talent for fighting she both gained and lost many things. The time she spent honing her skills with milo and akouo cut much of the free time she had for herself and distanced Pyrrha from her peers, the tournaments that she participated in caused her to lose any anonymity and a chance for a fresh start with anyone, her need to hone her skills with milo's three forms caused her to neglect the overt uses of her semblance in favour of the hidden ones.

Even the powers of the Fall Maiden seemed to be yet another step towards the goal.

Thinking back on the fight and the way Cinder had used her flames and comparing it to her own semblance caused her to realize that she had severely limited herself to make her matches more 'fair'. In retrospection what she did was mostly to get something out of duels. Her semblance was geared more towards fighting other huntsmen rather than Grimm due to it's electromagnetic component.

The amount of time she had the fairy tale power was also minuscule compared to the other woman, it seemed obvious now that she truly didn't stand a chance fighting her alone and yet there wasn't another way.

Pyrrha looked on as the hated enemy's hand came to rest upon her cheek, her mind turning towards the one person that would have stood no chance against Cinder and would have most likely died trying if it wasn't for Pyrrha forcing him away.

Jaune, sweet and somewhat silly boy that somehow wormed his way into her heart within moments of their meeting. No, she knew that what made him special for her was his utter ignorance of her accomplishments, and therefore their weight. He had no idea who she was, only recognizing her from one of the stupid advertisements needed to maintain the tip top shape of her weapons and armor. She could have allowed him to come with her but considering his skill, which given have trained less than a year, would be suicide.

As Cinder's hand touched her tiara, Pyrrha felt something leave her, traveling towards the red dressed maiden, making her bitterly think if perhaps there was more than a little truth to Cinder's words if the power would betray her so easily.

Just as the mystical power left her, Pyrrha felt a flash of heat travel all around her body increasing it's potency within moments. It seemed that the new Fall Maiden didn't want to leave anything up to chance. Indeed moments later the ever increasing heat turned almost blinding and Pyrrha thought that she felt blood within her boil.

Pyrrha thought that she would be resigned to die here, her destiny seemingly fulfilled even if it seemed as in the end she didn't accomplish much. The four time reigning champion title was a hollow one. The only thing of any distinction that she felt could be attached to Pyrrha Nikos' name was allowing Jaune Arc with a step towards the right direction. But instead she felt her whole being tugging at her, lashing out in an attempt to somehow divert the events from going in this direction.

She had been always a controlled fighter, using skills and guile to expend the least amount of energy as she beat her opponents. Even her small daily usage of semblance was controlled to make it seem as if things were going her way only by chance. Emotions didn't factor in fights, at least not for the truly strongest people. They may rage and cry on the inside but their steps during fights are methodical and brutal, it was something she picked up on and incorporated into her own style. Yet it seemed, that at the end of the road she wanted to go out with a bang.

So instead of wasting her time watching the surroundings she allowed herself to gaze inward, past the body that seemed to be at it's end, past the layer of reality that could be gazed at with a naked eye, until she touched upon her aura and yet still going further inside of her, to the root of aura, her soul and with it her semblance. She found it just like any other time she had attempted the aura meditation a molten ball of red hot steel that seemed to pulse with each beat of her heart, releasing a red vapor like substance. Unlike other times the vapor instead of blood red was more muted in it's colouring and turning increasingly transparent with each beat as if it was about to disappear. Pyrrha could only conclude that even her soul was slowly disappearing as she died but instead of looking at it she grabbed the molten steel ball within her ethereal hands and, instead of slow and steady push of aura to control her semblance, she pulled all of remaining energy, her very being, within her and used it to activate her power with wild abandon.

Usually when Pyrrha added energy to activate her semblance while meditating, she would see the molten steel becoming covered in subtle black outline just like any object that was touched with her semblance instead it seemed as if the molten ball of steel had cracked under the pressure of the energy inputted into it.

She could only watched as the cracks widened upon the core that served to show the conduit into the soul, and with each widening her body started to flash with redness of her soul, until the molten steel completely cracked and imploded onto itself throwing her soul, and with it her body somewhere.

The energy of her soul that stayed in her spot slowly drifted with the wind before disappearing, her circlet touched by Cinder stayed behind to tumble onto the floor with no body to support it.

Then the world turned **WHITE**.

*P*

Pyrrha wasn't sure where she was. One moment she tried a last desperate gamble to survive the unlivable event, the next she was rushing through a void filled with colorful shapes and angles that hurt her to look at. Wherever she was, Pyrrha couldn't stop as she felt herself moving forward, sometimes so fast that only a disturbing kaleidoscope of colors embraced her, sometimes so slow that she could feel and see every mind eating twist within the shapes.

She could feel her mind warping against something, as if it was accommodating something new within her skull stretching and twisting Pyrrha's self to make sure there was enough room.

It was a moment, it was an eternity, it was but few moments until the shapes and colors slowly petered out and darkness claimed her.


	2. Ghoul Restaurant

_"A modern-day coliseum is an apt way to describe it. There is the entertaining brutal and bloody fights that always end in a participants death, there is the audience pumped up and excited at the gory display, and then there is the food exotic and novel to enrich the experience though in this case, everything other than food is there to enrich the flavor of the meal rather than the fight." - A regular at the Ghoul Restaurant._

Arisato Aritaka was what one might call a regular at this restaurant. The restaurant in question was prestigious in selecting its clientele only at most fifty to a hundred customers would be welcome every week, truly it was one of the more elitist establishments around.

Taking that into consideration one might think that Aritaka was either rich or famous enough to be allowed entry. Those thinking that would be very wrong as his job was delivering packages around Tokyo wards, he had neither the money nor the fame to partake in the dishes served here. Yet he was allowed a spot for two special reasons.

While he had neither fame nor money himself, it was the connections that Aritaka had cultivated while on the job that allowed him a spot. The items that he delivered around the famous city were varied both in their nature and legal status. Letters, packages, weapons, even bodies were some of the things that passed through his hands from one point to another. It was both his silence and professionalism that allowed him a slight bond with influential people in certain circles.

The other and most important point though hinged on Aritaka being a ghoul, a being that looked like a human, talked like a human but was certainly not a human.

Ghouls were humanity's predators in every sense of the word. Faster, stronger, tougher, with better senses, and higher regenerative factor than humans. With natural inborn weapons that were designed to hurt and kill, yet the biggest factor was their diet.

You see, a ghoul was very different from other animals on the planet, they could consume only flesh of their prey, the humans. Any other ingredient made them violently sick and cause them to experience repulsive taste.

This restaurant, named 'Ghoul Restaurant' by the ones in the know catered specifically for ghouls.

Aritaka moved through the gallery making sure not to bump into any of the guests crowding the space as he moved to his spot. Most of the customers that surrounded him were the absolute top in the ghoul world or at least connected with one of the bigger organizations. People like him who barely reached the requirements were almost nonexistent and it wouldn't do for him to offend anyone here.

As he closed in on his spot, he didn't forget to indulge himself slightly in his habit. Looking at the masks that almost every participant wore. Truly they were a work of art, some looked animalistic in their make, others only partially covered their user's faces, some made the onlookers feel fear and terror. There were so many varieties of them that Aritaka couldn't help himself as he looked around to check if there was some new face around.

Once he made his way into his specified spot, slightly disappointed with not finding anyone new, he heard someone call him from the side. Turning around he was greeted by a woman. Big was the only way to truly describe her, her body towering above almost everyone by more than a head with a stocky build, fat lips, numerous jewelry and tinted sunglasses that completely hid her eyes.

"Big Madam." Aritaka bowed slightly to one of his patrons, one that had allowed him to attend this event.

"Aritaka, I see that you have yet to bring a mask. Tut, tut, aren't you worried someone will unscrew your head later in the night?" Madam asked her lips stretching into a big sunny smile that displayed her braces.

He, in turn, touched his face with a hand feeling his flesh while a smile tugged at his lips unperturbed by the violent end the woman imagined of him, "I am afraid that if someone had such inclinations from within this audience there would be no difference even if I used one."

Big Madam nodded at that with a smirk, "True, it is this attitude that has allowed you to live for so long. Keep it up and you may even die from old age! HA!"

Aritaka only smiled bitterly as he was well aware that ghouls die on average around their thirties. Both investigators and ghouls themselves butchered their kin left and right which made old ghouls something of a legend. While it wasn't impossible to live so long, almost every one who reached such an age was almost impossible to kill or guarded twenty-four seven.

"Enough about that dreary topic, did you hear the news yet?"

"No, what are you talking about?" Aritaka asked curiously.

"It seems that there is a change in schedule today. Apparently one of the sniffers found something interesting for us." Madam stated as she seemed to be vibrating in excitement.

He couldn't blame her while the shows were usually entertaining enough, seeing them without anything new slowly eroded the novelty of it.

"Truly? Then it is a good thing that I rejected one of my new clients that wanted something delivered today. I would've missed this." he responded with a smile.

"It seems that your luck is still going strong. Good. I will call you if I need something delivered. The shows seem to be starting and it wouldn't do for me to miss any of it." she said before turning around and heading straight for the VIP section.

Aritaka watched as every ghoul that stood in her way moved aside to allow for her passage. He wasn't overly surprised at that. Big Madam was one of the biggest names in the community. She was the founder of the Ghoul Restaurant. No matter the fame or infamy of people within the crowd no one was foolish enough to bar her path.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Today there will be a slight change to the program. One of our sniffers from the 20th ward had found something interesting that will allow many of you an additional spice to today's main event!

Just an hour earlier he had found a woman wounded in the chest area seemingly hurt by an arrow! That's right people, not any gun or even a knife but an arrow, an arrow that looked as if it burned through her body rather than pierce through it. Clad in armor that could be mistaken to have come from medieval times, it was a rather particular mystery.

But many of you know of our standards and know that if that was all then it would more of a passing mystery then an extra event on our menu. Indeed the two most spectacular things about this woman were her regenerative factor and her smell.

The wound that seemed mortal in a human's standard slowly healed without any help form this establishment and her smell was indeed different than a regular human's! We have some exotic food for you, ladies and gentlemen!" announced the masked woman in the middle of the arena, her white mask containing only two massive eyes that seemed to pierce through everyone's souls, her voice enchanting and cajoling anyone who listened to her to cause a ruckus.

The audience which was captivated by the story roared in anticipation at the unexpected welcome surprise. And the announcer nodded her head as she listened to the sound generated.

"Good! Then without further ado, as this is an extra event, is there anyone within the audience that wants to use their own scrapper to liven this up even more?" questioned the woman.

"I think everyone will agree with me that this calls for a more special touch. Let my Terry be the one to entertain us today." proclaimed Big Madam which caused almost everyone to hiss and wince.

Every member who had seen the scrapper at work knew that he was something of a bright gem in Big Madam's hands and she usually didn't use him for anything other than surprise events.

Seeing that there were no other offers, the woman announced, "Then if no one has any problems with this arrangement we will proceed."

Indeed, not even five minutes later two opposite gates of the arena opened from one emerged a grotesque man, his whole body bulging with veins and muscles, his black beady eyes and bald head only added to his wild atmosphere around him yet the thing that stood out the most was his two hands, or rather the things that had replaced his hands.

His fingers and palms were cut off and attached to stumps were three-fingered hooks that ended with wicked barbs. Terry looks as if he stepped out of a horror movie set and forgot to change his clothes.

It was the other gate that garnered more looks, those interested in the rarity gazed at the entering people with interest that slowly changed into disbelief. Because three people entered the arena from there. Two were clad in dark cloaks only their hands and masks visible. One of them held a bucket of water and the other had a red-haired female clad in armor slugged on his shoulder.

The audience had seen the special events of the restaurant many times but this had been the first time an unconscious meal was brought out,

The two men in black then put the woman on the sand-filled floor of the arena and then poured the bucket's contents onto the female before rushing out of the stadium. The manager of the branch felt that it would be too anti-climatic to allow a scrapper wail against an unconscious opponent but the event had to go on and they wouldn't accommodate their meal and allow them to recover. Hence he asked his employees to pour cold water and wake the female up.

True to expectations, Pyrrha awoke due to the sudden wet and jarring cold. Years of training had ingrained into her body allowed her body to move in the autopilot as it tensed all of its muscles before kicking outdistancing herself backward and putting her on her feet.

She felt as if every fiber of her being was exhausted, every cell screamed in protest at being awake. Her chest felt as if someone had put a hot flame to it causing her to touch it unconsciously. Feeling the charred flesh allowed her to recall what had happened earlier.

Destruction. Death. Fight. Despair. Destiny. Grimm. Death. Arrow. Core. Aura. Death. Death. DEATH.

"Get her, Terry!" Big Madam shouted.

ROAR

With a mighty roar, Terry moved with speed unlike one would think with his size as he charged at the absentminded Pyrrha. The noise itself snapped her out of her daze as she ascertained her situation.

Hearing the unfamiliar words a pit formed in her stomach at the many possible instances of it happening but instead of dwelling on them, Pyrrha focused on the threat before her. The hulking mass of flesh didn't give her much time to prepare before there was but a meter in between them.

Promising herself to think after dealing with the problem at hand, instead of retreating like most would do, she advanced until they almost touched. Everyone didn't expect that, not even Terry, causing him to mistime his swing and allowing Pyrrha to hook her arm around his shoulder socket and hoist herself upon his back. With quick movements she stomped onto Terry's back causing him to stumble and fall, making the sand around the arena form into the cloud around her obscuring them from view for a moment.

"I'm not sure where I am but I would like for you to stop attacking me," said Pyrrha with a stern tone as she made sure to keep enough leverage to hold the giant in the current position.

Once the cloud of dust finally dispersed, the audience started talking in disbelief, it had been some time since one of the scrappers were defeated, the first time that a human had done such a feat and yet there was a female human that by all standards seemed to be hurt and tired, woken moments before, and was still able to incapacitate him in mere moments.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, TERRY! GET UP AND KILL THAT BITCH!" screeched Big Madam.

Pyrrha didn't know what had been said but she could easily feel the effects as the hulk under her strained against her hold that should have sent signals of mind-numbing pain with ever-increasing ferocity. She wasn't sure what to do in this situation, something like this was a first for her an opponent that instead of calming down after being defeated seemed to have gained a second wind and pushed himself above his limits.

So with no alternatives other than killing him, she held her hold against the straining body. She could feel the arm underneath her palm quivering with effort before a sickening pop echoed with such a finality that caused a momentary silence before being replaced by a much primal sound.

ROAR!

A sound that would have been better suited for a wild beast than a human tore out from Terry's throat before he disregarded the already popped out shoulder and stood up before trying slash at his back with his hooks causing more damage to himself than Pyrrha.

Pyrrha tried to stay on his back but the effort needed to avoid the slashes of the vicious hooks coupled with her rapidly depleting stamina forced her to kick off from Terry's back and look upon her opponent once more.

The pile of muscle in front of her looked much more miserable than when he had first charged her. Long deep irregular red gashes formed around his shoulder blades exposing flesh and bone to the light as blood slowly dribbled out from them and formed a pool beneath his legs. His right hand that she used for leverage seemed to be twenty centimeters longer and the shoulder that connected the bones looked as if it was hanging by a few strands of flesh and muscle. Adding to all that was his ragged breathing that seemed to form a small cloud of air whenever he exhaled and it formed a pitiful sight.

Terry roared once more before pushing his battered body against his opponent. Pyrrha had had enough and instead of putting the man in the hold instead kicked twice against his knees and was rewarded with a shattering sound as the knees bent inward and unable to bear his weight anymore he toppled to the ground.

She watched, a little sick, as instead of resting or even crying from pain, Terry instead used his claws to drag his body forward. The scene was so unexpected that she didn't even move or twitch as four black cloaked men descended upon arena and rushed towards her, only watching the huge men leave a trail of blood as he moved towards her.

"Don't kill her! Restrain her and don't allow her to escape, I have a better idea," shouted Big Madam, her voice tinged with vitriol still angry at the slight of someone beating her scrapper, not even an iota of thoughts were about Terry.

One second Pyrrha was staring at the gruesome scene, the next she was slammed against the sand by unimaginably strong pairs of arms.

"Good, I'm ashamed for such a thing to happen with my participation. Indeed it seems as if our mystery event is indeed exciting." Madam started with venom in her voice, "Truly it seems that we have stumbled upon a hidden gem. It would be such a shame if we were to kill it here and now. I propose that we keep our new star locked for the next meal and challenge her until she can no longer win. Just like a well-aged wine, we should allow our appetites to grow until we consume her." she finished with a smirk.

Her words resonated with the audience and as one they shouted and hollered with approval at the impromptu idea. The restaurant venue seemed as if it was shaking with vibrations.

Looking at Terry, weak and disabled yet still clinging onto her orders, a flash of disgust went through Madam's eyes before she uttered, "Seeing as our new little star doesn't seem to know our rules and we can't sample her just yet, let us partake Terry then. You four make sure that our exotic goods get a good look at him as our butchers prepare the meat. We can't have her thinking that she can spare her opponents."

The four didn't respond verbally but one of the men holding Pyrrha forcefully moved her head and forced her to look at Terry who was still trying to claw he was towards her, his breath slowing.

A groan resounded within the arena as another of the gates opened and from within emerged a woman with a pig's mask that seemed as if in agony. She wasn't wearing anything other than a white apron and gloves that were covered with blood and within her hands was a cleaver knife and a large see-through bag. The pig-masked woman didn't say anything as she made her way towards Terry.

"Start with the legs and try to make it as long as possible. He. Failed. Me." ground out Madam.

With a quick nod, the butcher started her task, the clever cutting through flesh as if it were butter and Pyrrha had no choice but to watch.

"W…what are you doing?! He…" she couldn't finish her words as she felt bile spilling from her lips. The four men holding her seemed to react to her act as if she was trying to escape, increasing the strength with which they held Pyrrha causing her bones to creak and pushing her head against the vomit.

Helplessly she could only watch as the person in front of her was butchered as if he was lower than an animal, only minimal sounds of discomfort spilling from his throat all the while he crawled forward as the butcher cut off parts of his body before putting them into the see-through bag.

Pyrrha wasn't sure how long she watched this travesty, she wasn't sure how many times she vomited until she could only helplessly watch and dry heave but in the end, Terry drew his last breath and Big Madam allowed the four to take her to the cells.

As they dragged her towards unknown Pyrrha looked upon this bloody scene, her body covered in her own liquids. A woman wearing nothing but apron cutting up a man with hooks instead of hands, a trail extending from his deceased body showing his intense will to live. The sandy arena floor dyed partially red and high above the Coliseum was the excited masked audience that sounded out with fervor and adrenaline. Pyrrha wasn't sure just where she was but one thought couldn't help but gnaw on her.

Perhaps this was hell for failing her destiny and failing all those who depended on her.

**A/N: So this is the first chapter of the story, apart from the prologue. I'm a little, but not a lot, sorry for the lateness of it. I had a slight problem with a plot. You see the first idea was for Pyrrha to land herself in the hands of the mad doctor that would then make her half ghoul but then I thought where I wanted this story to go and I realized that in the grand scheme of things the ghoul power up and the necessity to eat flesh was an unnecessary addition that wouldn't bring much to the table other than this arc.**

**So, Arc one is Tokyo Ghoul for those who somehow missed it. I'm not sure how long this arc will be but I can say that the story will not end in Tokyo Ghoul. Pyrrha will continue to travel through different franchises in her quest to return home. If someone has anything to add or comment on to make the story better, please share.**

**Obviously, neither RWBY nor Tokyo Ghoul is mine, too bad I would've been pretty rich this way. -.-**


End file.
